FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



utters harsh notes, but this is a libel ; the song is not 

 strikingly beautiful, but includes swne bright, clear 

 notes. In The AriiuUtiral Magazine, 1st series, 

 Vol. IV., p. 188, I render it as follows : " Whip, whip, 

 whip, whip; tzewee, Izctcee, tzewee ; cheo, cheo, cheo, 

 I'heo, rheji, rheo, cheo : tzerwiss, fzerwi^s, tzertriss : 

 cheo, cheo, cheo, cheo, cheo, cheo, cheo." After all these 

 years I .see no reason to alter this rendering. Mrs. 

 Musil, a German lady, vvho compared the song to that 

 of the European Robin, can have had no ear for music; 

 the song remotely resembles tliat of the White-throated 

 Finch, but has not the least likeness to that of any of 

 the memljers of the sub-family Turilincc. 



MAROOri Tanagkr {Rham])hoccelus jacapa). 



Velvety black washed with crimson ; head, neck, 

 throat and breast deep crimson, gradually shading into 

 black on the abdomen ; under wing-coverts black ; bill 

 black with a bluish grey patch at base of lowe'r man- 

 dible ; feet black. Female brownish-black ; the face, 

 rump, and under surface of body rosy reddish; bill 

 and feet brown. Habitat, Guiana, Venezuela, Trinidad, 

 Colombia, Ecuadoi', Peru, Upper and Lower AmazMis, 

 and Brazil (Sclater). 



According to Burmeister, in old age there is a naked 

 Iiatch caused by the dropping out of the feathers 

 between the eye and ba.se of beak ; he gives no in- 

 formation respecting the "wild life. 



Taczanow.ski l"Oi-nith. Perou," Vol. II., p. 492) says: 

 "The eggs collected at Huambo and at Corral, in 

 .January and Februai-y, are oval and elliptical, short, 

 with smooth surface ; the ground-colour is very pale 

 bluish green, sprinkled with black dots and spots, 

 more or less regularly rounded, sometimes irregular 

 patches, generally few in number, usually more numer- 

 ous at the broad extremity, rare at the apex, occa- 

 sionallv equallv distributed over the whole surface. 

 Length 22.4 23'8 to 16.7-17.2 millimetres in breadth." 

 The author also quotes the following from Htolzmann : 

 "A lively and animated bird like the other species of 

 the genus. It occurs chiefly in open spaces, such as 

 Ijlantations or the margins of rivers, never penetrating 

 into the depth of the forest. One generally sees them 

 in pairs or small companies consisting of a few indi- 

 viduals. It nests in the rainy season from January to 

 March. The natives of the country call it qtinnrhaco, 

 a name applied at Cuteryo to Trupialls mililaris." 



Ir. 1905 Mr. E. W. Harjwr sent four specimens of 

 this species to the L;mdon Zoological Gardens, and in 

 1907 he brought home a pair which he priofd at £7. 

 Russ says that a few have been received singly in 

 Bordeaux. 



SuMMKR T.WAGF.R, (Pyranga. (rativa). 



Crimson, rather pnler on underpart.s ; back darker; 

 wings ashy, with deep crimson edges ; tail a,shy, w.ashed 

 with crimson ; under wing-coverts rosy ; bill pale horn- 

 colour ; feet brown. Female, above olive, wings and 

 tail blackish, with olive edges ; below yellowish. 

 Habitat, X. America in summer; southwards through- 

 out the Antilles, Mexico, and Central America to 

 Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru in winter. 



Mrs. Olive Thornp Miller, in her " l^ittle Brothers of 

 the Air," ]>p. 159 162. gives a charming p.ctxiunt of the 

 discovery- of nest.s of thi.s bird on the banks of the Bhack 

 River, which is well woithy of perusal, but does not 

 eiitci' siutticiently into detiils for scientific purposes. A 

 full description of the nidification will probably be 

 found in Baird's "Birds of "N. America," p. 301. In 

 Iow:i, according to C. R. Keyes ("Ornithologist and 

 Ooloiri.^+," Vol. IX., 1884, p. 34), the number of eggs 

 to a clutch is always four. 



Prince Maximilian speaks of finding the nest on one 



occasion at the junction of the Ohio with the Mississippi, 

 but it wa,s placed in the fork of a branch of a tree, the 

 main stem of which was s<> tJiiii that he could not 

 examini- it closely. Heni-y Whitely obtained /-. cEstiva 

 on Roraima at an elevation of 3,500ft. (The Ibis, 

 1885, p. 211.) 



Mr. Walter Goodfellow says {The Ibis, 1901, p. 

 468) : " Three males and one female from Canzacota, 

 West Ecuador (6,500 feet), Quito (10.000 feet), and 

 Baeza, East Ecuador (5,500 feet). Our Consul at Quito 

 told me that he had never seen more than three at that 

 altitude during the thirty years he had lived there. The 

 si)ecimen we shot in the garden during our stay at the 

 Consulate had been in the neighbourhood for several 

 days, but was very shy and tried to conceal its bright coat 

 in the trees as much as possible." Dr. Russ says that this 

 species is rarely imported iind only singly in the German 

 niarktt, nevertheless a pair may be found here .and there 

 in several birdrooms, but he siiy.s that it is not present 

 in any zoological gardens, and" that even the London 

 Gardens h.'ive not exhibited it. 



Rkd T.\NAGKii (I'ljranga rubra). 



Scarlet, the feathers white at ba=e ; wings and tail 

 black ; bill smoky horn- coloured, the tomium paler; feet 

 reddish smoke brown ; irides encircletl by a paler 

 cinnamon margin. Female above yellowish olive ; wings 

 arid tail blackish gieen, with more olive margins; throat 

 brighter, remainder of under surface of a paler yellowish 

 green. Habitat, Eastern N. America in summer ; 

 throughout the Antilles and Central America to 

 Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia in winter. 



According to Gentry (vide Russ, " Fremd. Stubenv.," 

 Vol. I., pp. 649-50), this Tanager appears in the SUates 

 as a summer visitor from early in May until the last 

 week of September, and is useful in destroying insects 

 and all sorts of vermin. In isolated human locations it 

 is shy and nervous, yet on the other hand in the vicinity 

 of human habitations is bold and confiding, so that one 

 may approach within .a few steps of it. In woodlands 

 it seeks its fond for hours together upon the outermost 

 branches of the highest trees ; apple and pear trees 

 especially attract it. One also sees it in comiwny with 

 Migratory Tlirushes and Changeable Troupiuls seeking 

 for grubs on the soil behind the ploughman. Seeds even 

 of soft plants it never e.ats. After the breeding-season 

 they separate into paiis and families and wander alx>ut 

 apart. One may judge it likely that in spring, when 

 they return, the sexes separate, since the males cer- 

 tainly arrive earlier. The latter tJien sit on the summits 

 of the highest trees singing by the hour together, doubt- 

 less with the object of attracting the females flying 

 overhead. Here and there one sees a male Itigh up on 

 a great tree close To .x very noisy thoroughfoi'e, undis- 

 turbed by the traffic, and just as here so in the broad 

 forest it always chooses the summits of the highest trees. 

 Its cry, chichnr, re.sounds repeatedly and is very illusive, 

 .IS if from a distance, evtn thouph the bird may be 

 quite close to us. Liter, when the trees are clothed 

 with foliige, this T.anager, in .'pite of its splendid colour- 

 ing, well knows how to conc.'al itwlf, at any rate in 

 the forest, where:i.s in fruit and other gardens it aln'avs 

 shows itself op'uly. just as though it were well aware 

 that here it is safer from bird.>j of prey. The song of the 

 male, which is ventriloquial in character and is delivered 

 in rather slow time, may be fairly expressed by the 

 following syllables : — chi-chi-rhi-char-ef-charr-pe-chi. I 

 have beard it cnmipared with that of the Baltimore 

 Oriole, but I cannot discover the slightest resemblance 

 between t'he two. 



The breeding season starts at the end of May or 

 beginning of .Tune, and he keeps himself always at s 



